Nintendo

One Pokémon Was Almost Named Piploop, But It Sounded Too Much Like Poop

Piploop became Piplup because Piploop sounds too much like poop. Another Pokémon was almost called Doncrowleone, but… well that one’s pretty obvious. Siliconera’s got a great interview with Seth McMahill, an assistant project manager at Nintendo and one of the people who helps translates games like Pokémon from Japanese to English for release on U.S.…

Some More Assassin’s Creed III Footage And Gameplay Details

Maybe you’re getting sick of Assassin’s Creed III footage. Maybe you just want to play the new stealth-action-adventure game, which comes out in a month or so. That’s okay. I don’t blame you. But if your appetite for footage from the next Assassin’s Creed game has not yet been sated, check out last night’s episode…

Pokémon Jack-o’-Lanterns, Gotta Carve ‘Em All!

October is right around the corner—and so is Halloween. While I haven’t picked out my costume (must remember to!), I have been thinking about what I’d like to carve into an orange gourd. These Pocket Monster carvings provide plenty of inspiration. These photos popped up on Tumblr site Think Like No One Else, and I’m…

Here’s Three Pieces of DLC For This Mario Game

Nintendo has just detailed the New Super Mario Bros. 2 DLC that it first announced back in June at E3 There’ll be three packs made available, all of them courses for the game’s coin rush mode: – Ippatsu Shoubu de Dokidoki Pack (very difficult course) – Gold Mario Go! Go! Go! Pack (try and get…

Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime Jousts With Geoff Keighley. This Is Your GTTV Preview.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime will make an appearance on GTTV tonight on Spike (1am ET/PT) to talk all things Wii U with host Geoff Keighley. Here’s a promo for the segment. It’s kind of hilarious: Reggie Fils-Aime Promo Clip [GTTV]

Nintendo Japan will release a Nintendo Direct video tonight at 11pm ET. An English video will follow soon after.

How You Earn 30,000 Coins In Two Minutes In New Super Mario Bros. 2

The road to one million coins in New Super Mario Bros. 2 can be daunting. Maybe you’ve given up by now. Well it’s time to get back on track, champ. Let Kotaku reader Slider show you how to earn 30,000 coins in two minutes all without leaving your couch. (Sorry about the video quality.)

Nintendo, Please Make a Tiny Nintendo 64

You know, once was a time Nintendo were serious about releasing miniature versions of their consoles. The NES got one (the NES-101), the SNES got one (the SNES 2), but ever since, Nintendo’s been all “eh, the original model will do”. Which is a pity, because smackedsam’s shrunken N64 looks terrific! It’s not trying to…

The Wonderful Surprise Hiding in the Wii U Launch Line-Up

Some facts hide in plain sight. You don’t notice them until you move them around a bit. Then suddenly, like some unscrambled Scrabble letters, there’s clarity. Un-jumble the launch line-up for the Wii U and here’s the fact that emerges: This fall, the Wii U is actually going to be a good console for… downloadable…

Here’s the Wii U’s Official Lineup for Launch Day and Beyond

The Wii U launches in North America on the 18th of November, 2012. Here are the 23 games that are launching with the system, as well as those coming before March 2013. It’s a rather large launch window Nintendo has defined for the Wii U launch, giving publishers four months to make it onto this…

Norwegian Retailer Has a Fantasy Wii U Launch Lineup

Norwegian retailer CDON has, as it should, a page up ready for people order Wii U games. It’s also got something most other retailers don’t: listings for games many Nintendo fans can only dream of. Among the known and incoming games like Tank!Tank!Tank! and New Super Mario Bros. U, there are listings for games that…

Turns Out Kirby Is Not Very Good At Playing Piano

Kirby must not be very smart, either, or he would go inhale Elton John instead of just trying to slam his body against a keyboard. Poor Kirby. Other things Kirby is not good at: chores, modeling:

The Latest Bravely Default Trailer Flies Out

Upcoming 3DS role-playing game Bravely Default: Flying Fairy has a goofy title. The game, however, looks just fine. As previously posted, Bravely Default will feature a job system similar to Final Fantasy V. So if you like FFV, you’ll probably like this! Bravely Default will be out this October in Japan. 「ブレイブリーデフォルト」～覚醒篇～ [SquareEnix@YouTube] Kotaku East…

Who Is Bowser Jr.’s Mother? (And Other Burning Mario Questions Answered)

While Nintendo honcho Satoru Iwata already confirmed to Kotaku that Mario doesn’t have a last name, the company’s resident genius, Shigeru Miyamoto, has a crack at other burning questions. Like why Mario and Peach play tennis and race go-karts with Bowser. Like seriously, what’s up with that? In an interview with GameInformer, Mario’s creator dishes…

There’s a New Nintendo 3DS XL Color in Japan

Japan is getting a new 3DS XL color: “Blue x Black”. It will join the other available 3DS XL colors in Japan (Red x Black, Silver x Black, White, and Pink x White). Priced similarly at ¥18,900, it will go on sale October 11 in Japan. Update: Well, new for Japan—where I live. This was…

Has Inflation De-Valued The Mario Coin?

If you’ve heard anything at all about the latest Super Mario Bros. game, you know that it has a lot of coins. So many coins. The diligent player can collect a million of the shiny little guys. An article over at Scripted Sequence ponders whether the ongoing inflation of coins in Mario games has led…

Let’s Enjoy the Old-Time Feel of This Amazing Mechanical Donkey Kong Machine

This contraption looks like an alternate-reality version of the arcade game that pretty much saved Nintendo. No pixels are present in engineer Martin Raynsford’s laser-cut re-creation of Donkey Kong but you do control Mario via an NES hooked up to servo motors. This first attempt only lets you jump as Mario but Raynsford writes that…

A Lovely Zelda Painting Comes To Life In Time-Lapse Video

Watch British artist Shanna May draw this cute Zelda painting in just four minutes. Ocarina not necessary. You can buy the painting here. You can also buy prints, in case for some reason you don’t want to spend £850 (~$1,377) on a canvas painting. Legend Of Zelda – Mega Painting [YouTube via GoNintendo]

I’m Sold on the Wii U GamePad’s Multiplayer

While at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, I got my first hands on with the Wii U. Other Kotaku editors have used the Wii U plenty, but since I didn’t go to E3, this was my first. Prior to picking it up for the first time, I really didn’t have high expectations for it—nor did…

Nintendo has confirmed to Eurogamer that the Wii U will be region locked. Surprised?